Charles Apple

on July 22, 2008

. 6 Comments

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to Denise Covert of Florida Today. Denise turns 28 today.

Denise Covert on her chopper

Denise on her 1967 Triumph chopper.
Photo courtesy of the ~~victim~~ birthday girl.
—

Denise has worked on Florida Today’s night delivery desk for about a month. This is her second tour at the Melbourne, Fla., paper.

A 2001 graduate of the University of Miami, Denise interned at the Miami Herald and then worked three years at Florida Today before becoming the 1A designer for the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers group in Stuart, Fla., for a year or so. She then moved to the Daytona Beach News-Journal in 2004, where she designed pages and edited copy.

A few samples of her work:

Find more in her NewsPageDesigner gallery.

Denise shares a birthday with actors David Spade, Willem Dafoe and Madison Pettis (the little girl in The Game Plan), musicians Daniel Jones of Savage Garden, Don Henley of the Eagles and Rufus Wainwright; comedian Albert Books, Jeopardy host Alex Trebek and politician Bob Dole.

In addition, today is Ratcatcher’s Day. Seriously.

Best wishes for the happiest of birthdays, Denise!

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Happy birthday, Andrew Braford

Published

on July 18, 2008

. 4 Comments

Here’s wishing a happy VizEds birthday to Andrew Braford, deputy design director of the St. Petersburg Times. Andrew turns the big four-oh today.
Andrew, from his Facebook profile.
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Andrew is a 1991 graduate of the University of North Dakota. He spent a year as a designer for the Gary Post-Tribune in Indiana before moving to the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota in 1989 as a designer and copy editor. He spent more than eight years in Nebraska.

In 1997, Andrew moved to the Wichita Eagle, where he spent nearly three years as a designer. He then moved to the St. Paul Pioneer Press for a year and the Columbus Dispatch for nearly two years before joining the St. Pete Times in 2005.

A few samples of Andrew’s work:

Find more in his NewsPageDesigner gallery.

Andrew shares a birthday with actor Vin Diesel, singer Martha Reeves, baseball manager Joe Torre, Virgin Records and Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson, astronaut John Glenn, South African politican Nelson Mandela and the late, great Hunter S. Thompson.

Plus, today is National Ice Cream Day and National Caviar Day. So treat yourself to a big ol’ mess of caviar-flavored ice cream, Andrew!

And best wishes for a very happy 40th birthday!

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Happy birthday, Melissa Angle

Published

on July 13, 2008

. 3 Comments

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to Melissa Angle , senior designer at The Atlanta Journal-Consititution.

Mangle mug

Melissa hangs out in the hotel bar in Syracuse,
February 2007. Photo by Matt Erickson.
—

Melissa has been at the AJC since March. She had spent two years at the Orlando Sentinel, where she had been promoted to senior designer. Her work revamping the Monday local section in 2006 won multiple awards from SND and earned her an Employee of the Year. She also played a big part in hosting the SND annual workshop that fall.

Previously, she was a copy editor for business, features and news stories and a designer for A1 and local sections at The Sun News of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Melissa is a 2002 graduate of Wichita State University in Kansas, where she was editor of the student newspaper, The Sunflower.

Melissa is a regional director of the Society for News Design and keeps a Region 3 blog.

A few examples of Melissa’s work:

Find more in her NewsPageDesigner gallery.

Melissa shares a birthday with comedian Cheech Marin, politician and former NFL great Jack Kemp, Hungarian designer Erno Rubik, the inventor of the famous cube puzzle, and actors Bob Crane, Patrick Stewart and Harrison Ford,

In addition, today is Fool’s Paradise Day. Seriously.

Best wishes, Mangle, for a very happy birthday!

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Happy birthday, Joy Mayer

Published

on July 9, 2008

in College journalism, News design, Happy birthday and VizEds Blog

. 2 Comments

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to Joy Mayer, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri and design editor of The Missourian. Joy turns 34 today.

Joy and me

Joy with some loser at SND/Houston in
2005. I forget who sent me the photo.
—

Joy has been at Mizzou five years. Previously, she spent five years as a designer for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. A 1996 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Joy started her career as a designer for the Wichita (Kansas) Eagle.

Joy shares a birthday with actors Jimmy Smits, Tom Hanks and Fred Savage, musicians Courtney Love and John Tesh, former Court TV star O.J. Simpson and scientist Nicola Tesla.

Plus, today is National Sugar Cookie Day. Seriously.

Best wishes, Joy, for a joyous birthday!

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Happy birthday, Javier Torres

Published

on July 7, 2008

. 4 Comments

Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays to my good friend Javier Torres, Assistant Managing Editor of the Fort Myers News-Press. Javier turns 38 today.

Javier Torres

As if that wasn’t enough, he became a U.S. citizen on June 13.

Javier has been at the News-Press for about four years. He’s a member of the SND board of directors and is a big reason the News-Press was named Innovator of the Year last fall by the APME.
Previously, Javo was a sports designer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and design director at the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star.

A few samples of his work:

See more in his NewsPageDesigner gallery.

Javier shares a birthday with actor Shelley Duvall, musicians Ringo Starr and Doc Severinsen, skater Michelle Kwan, writer Robert Heinlein and designer Pierre Cardin.

Plus, today is National Strawberry Sundae Day. Seriously.

Best wishes, Javier, for a very happy birthday… and congratulations on becoming a citizen!

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An update about me and the blog

Published

on July 7, 2008

in Amusing stuff, Getting a life, Workshops, Job changes, Charles Apple, Happy birthday and VizEds Blog

. 7 Comments

By now, you know I have a new job. This is my last week at The Virginian-Pilot.

Frequent readers of this blog also are aware I’ve not been posting much lately. That’s because I’ve been on vacation the past two weeks and internet access has been scarce.

So we returned home Saturday, I jumped online and began returning the literally hundreds of messages I couldn’t get to via web mail via dial-up modems and using neighbors’ wifi signals.

And then what happened? My own Cox internet crapped out on me. We have someone coming my Monday to take a look at it for us.

While I was back home, though, I missed a number of birthdays I would have normally observed:

July 2: Ken Mowry of Bank of America
July 2: Keith Claxton, Chicago Tribune
July 3: Chris Courtney, RedEye
July 4: Travis Ricks, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

My apologies, guys.

In addition, there are a number of news items I’m behind in posting. I’ll try to get them up soon. But bear with me, please, I’m a little busier than usual. My schedule:

Saturday, July 5: We return from a two-week vacation
Sunday, July 6: Begin packing up my home office and meet with our real-estate agent.
Monday, July 7: Return to work at the Pilot. I’m working the night shift in graphics to cover for someone else.

Tuesday, July 8: Fly to Lexington, Ky.
Wednesday, July 9: Teach an all-day session for the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.
Thursday, July 10: Fly home.

Friday, July 11: Return to work at the Pilot. I’m working my usual day shift. It’s my last day at the Pilot.
Saturday, July 12: Finish packing up my home office and pack for my move.

Sunday, July 13: Drive to Rock Hill, S.C., where I’ll hunt for temporary housing.
Monday, July 14: Move into temporary housing and begin hunting for a home.
Tuesday, July 15: Begin work at The Sporting News.

And that’s not counting the paperwork I need to do with our agent, the updating I need to do to my Lexington show, reacquiring my internet access, picking up my car from the body shop (again) and leaving Sharon ready to get the house ready to show.

Whew! I’m pooped, and I haven’t even made a dent in all this.

In the meantime, though, the blog will continue. Please check in regularly.